Heev's story
by henb
Summary: A short story presenting the events that led to a young pilots application for the Imperial Naval Academy.


Heev was rubbing the last sleep out of his eyes. The four hours of sleep seemed like they where getting shorter each time. Well – they where almost done. This was the final tour to imperial mining colony at Koratas and they where all done. The captain would pay his salary – a full 2,500 credits for four months of work wasn't that bad – and they'd have a nice long vacation. Of course piloting the ore transport wasn't very exciting or anything, but it was a job and Heev got some piloting experience. And the captain was a good mentor at that.

Captain Scorch had been piloting ore transports – "and some other types of crafts" - for most of his life. What he didn't know about piloting and navigating the space, surely wasn't worth knowing. And he'd happily share his knowledge and experiences. Well – happily perhaps wasn't quite the right term. Scorch was as tough a teacher as they come. Heev remembered his first tour. He really didn't get any sleep in those days and sometimes his head would almost explode with all the knowledge. And each time he was starting to get on top of things, the Captain would push him further. Those where actually pretty good days – hard but good. These days things where less… challenging. Almost boring. But Heev still appreciated the life among the stars. It held a certain peace and quiet, that wasn't to be found anywhere else. He wouldn't give that up for anything.

Heev returned his mind to the present and checked the readouts – or glanzed at them was more like it. Having been so long on this ship – almost eight years by now -, he knew the readouts in normal condition by heart. He didn't read the figures – he just looked at them, compared them to his known picture of how they should be and usually didn't have to do much else. The transports may be old, but they where in good condition and the Captain was good at keeping the repair and maintenance crews at their feet when they where in a layover. Engines: Fine. Containment systems: Fine. Auxilaries: Fine. The nav-computer: Fi… no wait? What was that?

They would arrive in just a little more than three hours. Heev checked his watch. They weren't supposed to arrive for another four and half hours. Now it was not a little more than three hours. Heev started controlling the parameters. That was it – some of them had been changed. Not by much but apparently enough to shorten their trip by more than an hour. It must have been the Captain. That clever old bastard! And he didn't say anything at shifts change. It was a test. To see how quickly Heev would do it. After almost eight years and he was still being tested. Not that the Captain didn't respect Heev because he surely did – but he was still showing why he was the Captain at times. Well…

Heev called the Captain just to ask if Heev should take the transport in, since they would be arriving before time. It really wasn't a question as much as a simple statement; showing that Heev had noticed the changes in the nav-computer. And the question really wasn't necessary – of course Heev would take them in. As confirmed by the Captain.

Three hours later Heev was getting ready to call the controller of the Loronar. He hoped it was one of the locals, but lately it was increasingly Empire Troopers manning the controller. Apparently someone in the Empire at one point thought that there was a deeper need of protection of the Loronar Shipyards. Heev didn't really know. But he did know that the Imperial Troopers was a lot more rigid to deal with. Earlier they'd just call the controllers and get a landing-slot in return. Now they have to go through an entire questionnaire of who are on board, of what stops they had made and why, what was on board etc.. Stupid.

And all just because some troublemakers, had started to sabotage some of the Imperial outfits; calling it a rebellion towards the suppressing Empire and all. Heev wasn't even sure what all the fuss was about in the first place. Why were these "rebels" sabotaging things anyway? The Empire is simply trying to create stability and security in the galaxy, but these troublemakers keep on making… well – troubles. The Empire was surprisingly serious about them though, and the arms industry was flourishing. And because of that, the need for raw carvanium ore was bigger than ever, making ore transport business pretty good.

"Loronar control this is ore transport T-O-4-7-2, inbound for the Loronar production facilities dock with raw cavanium ore from Koratas."

"4-7-2 this is Loronar control. We have you on registers. Please go directly for loading dock M-9-3 and connect with clamp 3."

Good – it was one of the locals. If things kept up like this they'd be done unloading late this evening. The might even capture a couple of drinks at the canteen and then they could depart early tomorrow. Actually things turned out to be better than good.

"Loronar, 4-7-2. That's affirmative. We'll continue directly to M-9-3 and connect with clamp 3. Estimated time of docking is 10 minutes."

"4-7-2, Loronar. Good. We have been ordered to give you priority clearance, so there will be no other in or outbound vessels. Please proceed as quick as possible."

"Loronar, 4-7-2. Roger. Out."

Priority clearance? What was that? Some controller had lost a bet to the Captain, last time they where here? It wouldn't surprise Heev. The Captain had more tricks up his sleeves, than a sarlaac had teeth. Well. He'd better call the Captain again.

"Captain. This is Heev again. We are inbound for Loronar."

"Heev. I have already told you to take the transport in. You should know better by know, not to call me with these kind of informations."

"No Captain. I just wanted to notify you that we've been given priority clearance."

"Priority clearance? Heev! How many times have I told you, not to pull pranks on people why they are resting."

"Captain. It's not a prank. We have been given priority clearance. No explanation. I supposed you might have… utilized some of your influence."

"What? No! I know nothing of this. Call those controller-pricks and ask them why. I'll be up shortly."

Baaah. Heev had expected the Captain would return to his sleep as a more happy man and now he would come to the bridge, missing some of his sleep and be in a general poor mood for the rest of the day. No need to expect a visit to the canteen anymore… Heev called the Loronar Control again.

"Loronar Control this is T-O-4-7-2. Our Captain inquires as to why we have been given a priority clearance."

"4-7-2, Loronar. It's by order directly from the 'ministrators. You'll have to ask them."

"Loronar, 4-7-2. Thanks. We are 7 minutes out. Out."

Heev had just switched the communicator off when the Captain came rumbling into the cockpit. This must be bad. The Captain usually wasn't that quick to come to the cockpit…

"Have those pricks given you any answer yet?" he rumbled…

"Not really. Only that it's from the 'ministrators and we'll have to ask them."

"Hmm… This doesn't promise well. I'll go talk to them as soon as we touch ground. You'll have to stall the clamp-crew. Fumble the connection. No wait. Go break one of the locking cylinders. It'll look less suspicious. Just slam it with a spanner so it won't lock. They won't start unloading until it has been repaired and we are NOT going to unload any ore until we've had an explanation. I won't have these imperial pricks seizing my cargo. I'll take her in. Go!"

Heev rushed towards the clamp gate. What's going on? The Captain usually didn't use the word 'prick' this often, but he seemed very focused on delaying things. And what was that about seizing cargo? Heev had never heard anything suggesting that the Empire might do that. Surely those "rebels" might attack and plunder transports, calling it seizing like it was any sort of legitimate, but there was only rumours about that. And the Empire did no such things.

A quick jab with the spanner on the locking cylinder did the job. Heev checked the gate and run it's self-diagnostic. Nothing wrong. Nothing else that was. The broken cylinder didn't even show up on the diagnostic panel. That clever old bastard…

Heev returned to the cockpit seconds before touching ground. With a gentle nudge the Captain put the transport down right on the spot.

"Heev! Shut her down. I'll go talk to the 'ministration."

And with that he was out the door.

Heev slowly shut her down – there really was no need to rush things now. A couple of minutes later down towards the clamp gate and opened it. Outside the clamp was already in position – it just needed to be connected and locked to the transport. Someone sure was in a hurry.

The clamp was quickly connected - way quicker than Heev had ever seen – but as expected it wouldn't lock. Heev gestured towards the clamp crew, trying to mimic something like "I don't know what is wrong – I'll have to check it out. Hang tight."

But hardly was he done gesturing before one of the men from the clamp crew was at the gate.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Heev answered – hoping he looked truthful – "It won't go green on the locking."

"Let me look. I used to fly one these things. It might be a stuck cylinder that needs to be pushed back to neutral before it can lock."

Not a minute later he looked up from the locking mechanism.

"It appears that something has struck one of the cylinders. Have You been carrying crates in this room?!?"

"Well … uhm … Yes. We had some spares here earlier on we used for some maintenance work, but we dumped them just after Bogden."

"You people just never listen do you?!? I don't know how many times I've told people like you always to secure crates. You just never know if they might move around and hit something. And now you've broken this cylinder. It'll take a good 15 minutes for us to fix it!"

"Ooohkay. What's the hurry anyways? I've never seen any clampers so eager to work."

"Haven't you heard?"

"What?"

"The rebels are forming an alliance. They are turning organized and all. The Emperor himself has ordered a bunch of new warships for the hunt. We've got the yard crew, melting crew, everyone, working double shifts to meet the deadline. Rumours are that we'll get a bonus worth six months pay if we are finish by the end of next month. And that the Emperor will seize this yard if we don't! Currently almost all is at a halt, because we are out of ore."

"We haven't heard a thing. They surely didn't mention it at Koratas."

"Well now you know. I'll have to find a repair crew. Don't go anywhere."

Phew. So it had come to that, Heev contemplated. Well that explained it all. Six months for pay was no small bonus. And having ones yard seized by the Emperor certainly was no small threat. No wonder they suddenly were so eager. Well perhaps there is… Heevs thought was cut by the rumbling voice of his Captain.

"Heev! Get over here."

"What is it Captain?"

"Heev my boy. Cancel all your dates. We are going for another tour to Koratas. Apparently there is a shortage of ore here, and the yard is willing to pay us quadruple for another tour, so I said yes. How's unloading by the way?"

"The clampers are fixing the cylinder now. If they can keep up we'll be unloaded in four hours."

"Good. We'll depart right after. I'll go fetch some supplies while you oversee the unloading."

"Yes Captain."

The unloading went with extreme expediency. Shortly after three hours all the holds was empty, after which Heev secured the gate and went to the cockpit, running a pre-flight check. Everything was still good. The engines still had some residual temperature in them. Well – he might as well just power them up, so they where ready to go when the Captain returned.

And they just got ready when the Captain returned with the supplies.

"Good Heev. I can see the ship is ready. The supplies will be onboard in a few minutes and then we'll be off. Get clearance from control."

"But what about our registration for the tour?"

"We won't need a registration."

Heev grabbed the communicator and called the controller.

"Control this is 4-7-2. We are ready for departure."

"4-7-2. You are clear for departure. You'll not be registered for this tour. You are authorized to take the most direct route out. All in and outbound vessels are on hold."

"Control. 4-7-2. Thanks. Bye."

The Captain returned in the same moment.

"Captain. We are ready for departure. Control has cleared us."

"Good. Let's go. Take her out, while I'll start programming the nav-computer."

Easily Heev steered the big transport of the dock and slowly upwards, until he felt he was far enough from the ground to increase speed. By the time they was free of the planet the nav-computer was ready, and they where quickly into to .67 of lightspeed. Amazing how quickly everybody could work given the right bonus – or threat. 11 hours or so later they would arrive at Koratas.

"Captain. Why does the yard suddenly lack ore? There usually are a lot of transports to it, and they can't have used it all so quickly?"

"The yard have only received one ore transport since our last."

"What?! Why?"

"Apparently there is a rebel alliance now and they have become very organized in their attacks of the Empires supply routes. Look at the nav-computer and tell me what you see."

"You've put on us a route that'll take is by Riflor, Cularin and Kashyyyk. That's a huge detour. It'll take almost triple the time! 33 hours!"

"Yes. But it'll also keep us pretty clear of the usual transport routes of the Empire as well as the rebel alliance. I hope."

"Why? Are this rebel alliance really such a big threat?"

"Yes Heev. Even more than we may have realized a few hours ago. The reason there has only been one transport since our last one, is that the rest has been attacked. Typically the crews was left in their escape pods, while their transports was stolen, but apparently the rebel alliance on some occasions has even executed the transport crews. This alliance is really getting their act together."

"But we are not part-takers in this rebellion or for the Empire. We are simply transporters, earning our daily meals."

"Yes but we are also – albeit indirectly – supporting the Emperor by supplying him with ore for his warships. And these rebel scum doesn't seem to take much care wither they are killing innoscent civilians or empirical troopers."

"Well – what are we to do then?"

"We are going as safe routes as possible, we are going to clear this ship for any form of weapons, so they can see we are indeed harmless transporters and we are going to hope for our best. A now I'm going to bed. Se you in four hours."

So that was it. Now they where enemies of the rebellion. And the rebels had formed an alliance. And this alliance was attacking innocent traders. Stupid rebels. What was it with these people? Why didn't they like the galaxy to be stable and secure?

Well – just for the sake of it, Heev took an inspection round in the holds. One never knew. An hour later he was back. He had also collected whatever weaponry he found and dumped it in the waste hold. Three hours to go. 32 hours until Koratas. Four hours to the Riflor-system. Not much to do. The nav-computer did its job, though it looked like they had to do a stop before Riflor to tune in the parameters. The Captain didn't have updates for that system and one might never know what those three suns might come up with. Heev started to look at the map, seeing if there where other places they would need to come to a short halt. Kalinda. They'd need to report in there. No fun in being blasted out of the space by an Imperial cruiser, just because they were trying to cut their travel time short. Everything else looked fine. Perhaps they should stop at Kashyyyk for intelligence updates. Well – he'd make a note about it to the Captain. Then he could decide. It was a pretty good route actually. It made it fine balancing between time and security.

At the beginning of his next shift Heev was no less tired than he was at the beginning of his final shift, before they arrived at Loronar. According to the Captain there had been not a single problem. There never was on his shifts. Heev didn't know if it was because the ship simply behaved nicer, when it was the Captain in the front chair, or if he simply never told about it.

As so many times he checked the readouts. Engines: Fine. Containment systems: Fine. Auxiliaries: Fine. The nav-computer: Fine. Good. And they where coming up on the Hydian Way. They've made good speed. But this was also supposed to be one of the most safe areas. Heev barely managed to complete that thought before the ship jolted. What was that?

Instantly be reflex he put the ship at a complete halt, put all critical systems on emergency power and then he looked at the readouts.

He had barely turned his head, when he saw what it was. A small fighter craft. No two. Four. A lot of them. The transport was under attack. Apparently the rebel alliance was here after all. Well. They where empty and they weren't flying a registered tour. They could probably get away with it. Why wasn't the Captain here? Heev pressed the communicator.

"Captain. We've been attacked by the rebels."

Funny – the Captain didn't answer. Suddenly he was in the cockpit.

"Pricks! Well – we'll be boarded shortly. Have you cleared the ship of weapons?"

"Yes. They are in the waste hold."

"Hmm. They might find it there. Dump two canisters of condensing grease in there. That'll make the hold less attractive to search."

Heev went to the storage and did as he was told. When he returned to the cockpit they had indeed been boarded. Three tall men and a… Heev wasn't sure what race it was but it was big and looked as if it could tear the hull apart with its claws – stood there pointing blasters at the Captain. The moment Heev entered one of them was turned at him. They were indeed in the hands of the rebels now. Stupid! The shortest one of the rebels started to speak.

"I'm Captain Welewed of the Rebel Alliance and let me express my respect: That was a clever trick Captain. You thought you could avoid us, by choosing this elaborate route, but you were wrong. You see. We know that you are on your way to Koratas. And we know that you are picking up a shipment of ore for the Loronar Yard. Well actually that you are supposed to, because you are not going to. You are surprised that we know this I see. Well. What the rebellion lack for in size, we make up in ingenuity. Needless to say: Things are not going as you plan. Please allow us to take you to our ship."

Heev and Captain Scorch were herded into a small chamber on the rebel's ship.

Through the small window they saw the rebel fighters firing at it, until it finally gave in and burst into flames. The Captain just stood there stairing. Heev could have sworn that the Captain died there. His body may still be living, but his mind was gone. He just stood there staring out the window.

"Captain?"

"Captain?"

"Heev. Like all experienced transporters I've seen my share of upsides and downsides. Some of the latter included prison cells. That was back in the old days. Things were a little rougher then. But it was earnest. Perhaps not earnest. But we did have a code of honour. All we did back then had a pourpose. This – doesn't serve any meaningfull pourpose. What they just did? It was just a waste."

With that he laid down on one of the beds and started staring up the ceiling. All the uncertainty filled his mind. What were the rebels going to do? Would they survive this? Should he do anything now? He didn't really get the chance to answer the question, as his thought was interrupted by the door opening and one of the guards entered.

"You. Come with us. Now!"

Heev followed the guard – he really didn't have any chance anyway so… Shortly after they entered the command centre. He could hear an agitated voice. No it was two agitated voices. One of them with scatter – the other very clear.

"But colonel Willard, it was the most effective thing to do."

"Captain Welewed. It's of no matter. One of the core elements of our alliance is the support of the people. We can not gain that by destroying innocent transports vessels."

"He was working for the Empire!"

"That is of no matter. Maybe he could be put to work for us? Maybe he could have provided us some sound tactical information. Did you even consider this?"

"Sir. We cannot…"

"Welewed! I want no more of your petty excuses. Your behaviour was less than acceptable. Now you must do your best to solve the situation. Willard out!"

Captain Welewed turned towards Heev and spoke.

"Well mr….. Heev was it? Yes. Mr. Heev. We'll be arriving at Triffis in a few hours where you and Captain Scorch will be released. Also please present my apologies to your Captain – blowing up his ship was an accident."

With a wave of a hand Captain Welewed ended the conversation and Heev was escorted back to their cell.

Once in there he spoke to the Captain:

"Captain. We're not going to die. We'll be set free on Triffis in a few hours."

"Good. Leave me alone."

Heev went to his bed and actually managed to get some sleep. It felt as if no time passed, when they where woken by a guards voice.

"You are free. Leave the ship now."

They where escorted to the gangway and then they where in a small dirty spaceport in Triffis. Heev turned to the Captain.

"Captain. What are we to do now?"

"Heev. You have been a good transporter. You have served me loyally and honed your skills. You have even become a better pilot and navigator than me in certain areas. I'm honoured to have been a transporter with You, but now we have to go on each of our paths. Mine has taken me here. This is as far as I'll come. When those rebel scum destroyed my transport, they took away my income, my life. I hope You make more of yours…"

And with that he turned and walked into the sandy street. It was clear Heev wasn't to follow, so he went in the other direction.

After a short walk he saw a couple of Imperial Troopers and walked towards them.

"Excuse me. I'll like to enlist in the Imperial Navy. How do I do that?"


End file.
